Urinal specimen bag



April 10, 1951 P. L. FOWLER, JR

URINAL $PECIMEN BAG Filed Sept. 29, 1949 Y PRESTON L.F owu-:R,JR.

B w m w Patented Apr. 10, 1951 UNI T S TATES'I PATEN T; OF'IFEI2,548,149 URINALxSPECIMENBAG Preston L. Fowler, Jr., Durham, N. C.Applicationseptember 29, 1949, Serial No. 118,511

This inventionrelates" to" an infants urinal adapted-to belattached. to.and .wormby aniinfant.

The" primary object of .thisziinventionwis .thefprovision of ;a specimen.bag forrgattachmentizzto:

an infant so that a definite and quantitatively measurable specimen maybe obtained. This is particularly a problem with girl babies for whichthe invention was principally, but not exclusively, intended. Anotherproblem solved by the invention is in the assurance that a specimen willbe obtained on the occasion next succeeding installation of the device,however unpredictable in specific time it may be.

Another object is to provide a bag for obtaining an uncontaminatedspecimen from infants. particularly those of such early age as to beincapable of discriminating cooperation. By this invention it isintended to provide for the sanitary procurement of a sample of urinealone, regardless of whatever other excretion may have occured duringthe period of observation.

It is a particular object now to provide a specimen bag incapable ofharming or alarming an infant during installation, wear, operation, orremoval, lest the infant, during a prolonged illness when successivespecimens must be analyzed, be conditioned to a justifiable distrust ofthe device. While providing a leak-proof seal of the device to theinfant, another object is to ensure that the parts which most intimatelyengage the infant are warm to the touch and not irritating to the skin.I

More specifically, it is now proposed to provide a flexible, elongatewaterproof bag, which may take the form of a leakproof rubber finger cotsupported at its open end in normally open condition around an openingin a shield of pliable, waterproof material which, in one embodiment ofthe invention, may be formed of the familiar adhesive tape or plasterfor direct application to the skin of the user. In another form of theinvention it is intended to form the shield at the top of the containerof plain, non-adhesive fabric and to interpose an intermediate shieldfaced on opposite sides with adhesive so that successive units may beapplied to the intermediate shield or, alternatively, the intermediateshield may be replaced between uses of the assembly.

These and other objects will be apparent from the followingspecification and drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of one form of the device;

Fi -2 is an exploded view dnisidesielevatiomof anaalternate :formofthe'gdevice; and

Fig.5. '3 is :a rearzelevationg cf-the xintermediater e shield lused-intheFigl-2 modification.

:1 Referring. now-. tc;.the;drawing in which 'liket:

reference numerals denote similar elements, prime numerals denoteelements like those pre viously described and numerals bearing hundredsprefixes denote elements analogous to previously described ones, theembodiment illustrated in Fig. 1 is formed of a generally frusto-conicalshield I having a somewhat triangular central opening 2. Shield I ispreferably formed of a waterproof pliable fabric such as adhesive tapeor plaster with a rear face 5 coated with adhesive material. A tube orbladder 3 of thin flexible, waterproof material, such as a rubber fingercot is secured dependent from the front face of shield I with the opentop of tube 3 in registry with opening 2. This is preferablyaccomplished by cementing the welt or top edge [3 of tube 3 to thesurface of shield l adjacent opening 2.

In the use of the Fig. 1 embodiment, the adhesive-surfaced rear face 5of shield I is applied directly to the skin of the infant with opening 2disposed to receive the desired urine specimen directly from the outletof the infant. When the specimen is obtained in tube 3, the device isremoved and may be held closed by folding in shield I. In this mannerthe specimen may be taken directly to the analyst with no danger ofcontamination and without using additional specimen bottles.

The assembly illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 is generally similar to thatpreviously described except that the front and rear surfaces 4, 5 ofshield I are plain, and not adhesively coated. Instead, an intermediateshield NH similar in configuration to shield I is used, and both thefront and rear surfaces I04 and H15 are coated with adhesive material.

In operation of the modification shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the front faceHi l of intermediate shield Ill! is first adhesively applied to the rearface 5' of shield I, and then the assembly is installed by applying therear, adhesively coated face I 85 directly to the skin of the infant. Ifsuccessive specimens are needed shield IOI may be left on the infant bystripping of shield I and tube 3' and applying a duplicate shield andtube similar to l', 3 to front face H14, thereby avoiding anydisturbance to the infant. Alternatively, if it is desired to re-use thedevice at some future date, the entire assembly may be stripped from theinfant, it being preferable then to dispose of intermediate shield IOI,empty and sterilize the shield and tube I, 3, and. use a fresh, sanitaryshield llll with fresh adhesive. Shield I will, of course, be relativelyeasy to handle and sterilize because substantially no adhesive coatingwill have stuck to its rear surface 5'.

It is apparent that various materials may be substituted for thosedetailed above; that the shields and tubes may be of various form andvolume to meet the needs of infants of different sexes and sizes; thatthe shield and tube may be molded or otherwise formed of one piece; andthat other modifications and alterations may be made without departingfrom the spirit of the following claim.

I claim:

A bag for obtaining urinary specimens from female infants and the likesubjects comprising, a first generally triangular, fiat shield ofpliable sheet material having a generally triangular central openingtherethrough, an adhesive coating on one side of said first shieldwhereby said one side may be adhesively attached against the skin of asubject around a body opening with the opening in said first shield inregistry with said body opening while the other side of said shieldconstitutes an outwardly-presented surface, an open-ended receivingtube, a second generally triangular, fiat shield of pliable sheetmaterial having a generally triangular central opening therethrough,means securing the open end of said receiving tube to one side of saidsecond shield with the open end of said tube in registry with thecentral opening thereof and another adhesive coating on the other sideof said second shield for releasably holding the open end of saidreceiving tube in registry with said body opening.

PRESTON L. FOWLER. JR.

I REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

